Columns

Congress faces a critical deadline, and time is running out. On June 1, 2015, three provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act will expire. The actions of the United States Congress between today and June 1st will affect the privacy and liberty of millions of innocent Americans.

After eight years of brutal budget cuts, Kentucky’s system of public higher education is at a critical juncture.

Kentucky’s universities and community colleges could continue to hike tuition and create more financial barriers to a college degree.

Or education leaders can make the case that the state legislature must begin to restore some of the millions of dollars it has cut from higher education since 2007, around the beginning of the recession.

When it comes to grading Kentucky’s public elementary and secondary schools, what ultimately counts most is whether our graduating students are truly ready for college and a career.

Over the last several years, one of the state’s newest agencies – the Kentucky Center for Education and Workforce Statistics – has been helping measure our progress in this area. Its work is more than just a survey; it’s an in-depth look at an entire graduating class.

Tomorrow is the big day! Champions for a Drug Free Carroll County and our event partners would like to invite the entire community, young and old, to attend our free Child Abuse Awareness event. It will take place tomorrow, Friday, April 24, from 7-9 p.m. at the courthouse square in Carrollton.

Even before it became a state in 1792, Kentucky’s energy potential was well-known.

It all began in 1750, when Dr. Thomas Walker, one of Kentucky’s early explorers, discovered coal here, and our profile began expanding significantly 40 years later, when the first commercial coal mine opened in what is now Lee County.

Why do we need alternative views? Why a Republican Party. Our Nation was founded on a two party system. There are many reasons why a second political party is needed in Carroll County. It is a known fact that honest debate is crucial to political progress. Regardless of which party you prefer, honest and informed debate is a crucial basis of our freedom.

Kentucky may be a couple of thousand miles away from Hollywood, but that hasn’t diminished our connections to the entertainment industry. Some of today’s most famous actors, for example – George Clooney, Jennifer Lawrence and Johnny Depp – were born here, while Tom Cruise spent part of his youth in Louisville.

If it’s true that it takes years of preparation to be an overnight success, the same can also be said of many laws approved during a legislative session.

This year is a prime example, with several high-profile measures having been considered by the General Assembly before. That includes those addressing booster seats, dating violence and an update of the state’s telecommunications laws.

A case before the Kentucky Supreme Court could lead to a legal precedent that determines when school teachers and administrators have to bear responsibility for a bullied student’s suicide.

The court heard arguments last week in a lawsuit filed by a Floyd County family whose 13-year-old son shot himself to death at home in 2007. Stephen Patton’s mother says teachers, a principal and two superintendents knew her son was bullied but did not intervene to help him.